


The art of reuniting with your love(s)

by CatelynStark956



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, because i love them so much, i couldn't help myself i had to give them a happy ending, it's just Stark fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:02:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26839408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatelynStark956/pseuds/CatelynStark956
Summary: Cat gets pregnant after her meeting with Ned in the brothel. Later Robb manages to take King’s Landing and rescues his father and sisters. They all reunite and it has a happy ending, as it should have been.
Relationships: Arya Stark & Catelyn Tully Stark, Catelyn Stark/Ned Stark, Catelyn Tully Stark & Robb Stark, Catelyn Tully Stark & Sansa Stark
Comments: 3
Kudos: 39





	The art of reuniting with your love(s)

**Author's Note:**

> This was posted on tumblr a while back, but i didn't remember to put it on here until now. It's kind of a sequel to "The art of leaving your love", which is another fic I've written, even though I've done some changes. "The art of leaving your love" is on my page if you haven't read it. But you'll be fully able to understand this one even if you don't read "The art of leaving your love"
> 
> (Sorry for spelling and grammar mistakes, english is not my first language and I'm still learning)

The bells were heard first. Then the distant sounds of battle echoed out over the lands. Catelyn hated it. She hated not knowing, she hated that she couldn’t even see what was going on. She had managed to convince Robb to bring her when he marched against King’s Landing to join Stannis’s troops. He had wanted her to go to Riverrun and wait there, but she was done with being locked up while her loved ones were in danger. And it really didn’t matter where she was. If she was in Riverrun and they lost she would be captured. If she was closer to the battle and they lost she would be captured. But if she was closer and they won she could see Ned and the girls quicker than if she was at Riverrun. And she could show them her baby belly. She had jokingly called the child “her brothel baby”, Robb absolutely hated it. But she found it funny. And it wasn’t long until the little brothel baby would enter the world, she wasn’t exactly sure, but she guessed it was just another two weeks or something like it. 

Catelyn restlessly walked around the camp with some thirty men following her. Robb had left them behind to defend her if something went wrong. She had found it very unnecessary to have so many when she was the only one they were defending. It would have been different if they had been set to defend the whole camp, and all the people, well, mostly women, who had been left behind while the men rode into battle. 

Just as she walked past a group of women who had made themselves busy with skinning a deer a loud boom shook the ground. A child could be heard crying somewhere and all the dogs started barking at the same time. Catelyn didn’t even want to imagine what could have happened to make such a deafening sound.

“Smoke” someone said and pointed towards the sky.

And when she looked up she saw that he was right. Black smoke rose towards a suddenly partly green sky, but they were too far away from the city to see where the smoke had it’s source. But as the saying went, there’s no smoke without fire, and something turned in Catelyn when she watched the cloud of smoke get larger and larger. Green fire meant wildfire. Wildfire was bad, wildfire was dangerous, wildfire meant death. 

“That’s not good” she said, frowning.

“We can’t know that, my lady. Not until it’s over. You shouldn’t worry.”

They seemed optimistic. That was not something that could be said of Catelyn. They could have been tens of thousands of men against one and she still would have been worried. The lives of her family was on the line. Her son, and her daughters, and her husband. Even her own life, and the baby’s. She missed Ned, Sansa and Arya so much that it ached in her. She just wanted them back with her, she wanted them to be safe again. But that wouldn’t happen if they lost. Heads would be flying if they lost.

“Do you have any family?” she asked.

“I have a wife and two small daughters back at home, my lady” he said and smiled.

It was a proud smile. She didn’t understand how he could be smiling. Maybe it was because neither his children nor his spouse was in danger because of the battle that raged not very far away from them. 

“Now imagine your wife and the youngest daughter is trapped by the enemy, and the older daughter has to lead an army and fight for their freedom. You can’t do a thing, you just have to stand around being useless and wait. If the older one loses, you’ll all die. Tell me, wouldn’t you be worried?”

He was quiet after that. She felt a bit mean, but she quickly forgot about it when another boom could be heard. It almost sounded as if though the city was collapsing, and it probably would if wildfire continued to be set off. She wanted to be able to see what was happening, but all she saw was more smoke. 

It continued like that for hours. She paced back and forth in the camp until her legs ached from it and it felt like her body was about to shut down. No more booms were heard, but the sounds from the battlefield continued. Though after a few hours it got quieter and quieter until it was completely silent, even the bells stopped ringing. The silence was almost worse than the sound of battle. Because the battle seemed to be over. But she had no idea of who had won. 

The camp got quiet too, she could almost touch the tension that hung in the air. Not even the dogs made a sound. She quietly walked towards the end of the camp that was closest to King’s Landing, hoped that maybe she could see something that would tell her if they had won or lost, if she would live or if she would die. But she was disappointed. Nothing. All she saw was the open fields and the ominous black smoke that never seemed to fade away. But she stood there, and she waited. She must have stood there for an hour. Her heart was beating hard and fast in her chest, and she couldn’t seem to stop fidgeting.

“Look!” someone said and pointed.

A rider came galloping towards them. She couldn’t see if he was Stark or Lannister or Baratheon, but she stayed right where she was until it became apparent exactly who it was. 

“It’s my uncle!” she exclaimed.

If the Blackfish could come back then surely he would bring good news. Though she dared not hope until she heard words come from his lips. 

“We won, Little Cat!” he shouted when he came close enough. 

A stone was lifted from her chest and suddenly her eyes were filling with tears of relief. They had won. They were safe.

“And Robb? Is he alright?” she asked him the moment he had climbed of his horse.

Her uncle took her face in his hands and looked at her with that smile that she loved so well.

“Your son is alright, Cat. And your daughters too. We found Arya out in the streets, Sansa was in the Red Keep. They were both beyond happy."

Sansa and Arya were alright. They were alive. They would be back with her.

“And Ned? What about my husband, is he well?”

“He’s... he isn’t well. But he’s alive, and he will get better quickly now that he’s out of the black cells.”

“Take me to them” she said. “Now!”

“I can’t, Little Cat” he sighed. “The capital is still a dangerous place, you shouldn’t be there.”

“Then I want them brought here, immediately. Husband, and daughters, and son. I don’t want them to be in danger longer than absolutely necessary. Stannis is king, he will deal with this from now on.”

Uncle Brynden dried the tears from her cheeks and kissed her forehead. 

“I will take them to you as quickly as I can” he promised. 

“Thank you, Uncle. But before you have to leave, I have to ask, was it truly wildfire?”

His face turned grim for a second.

“They blew up part of Stannis’s fleet. Many drowned in the river because of it. But we won anyway, and I would rather not speak of it.”

~*~

“Mother!” Arya shouted and almost fell of her horse in her haste. 

But Catelyn was there to catch her. She pulled Arya into a hug, showered her in kisses. It really was Arya, it was her daughter. She was safe. 

“I’m sorry I’m so dirty” Arya mumbled into Catelyn’s side.

She had not even noticed that Arya was dirty. Nothing could have mattered less in that moment. That wasn’t important, what was important was that she was safe and healthy.

“That doesn’t matter, sweetling. You’re safe now, you’re here with me. And I don’t care if you’re dirty.”

But where was the other daughter? She seemed to recall that she had two. She looked up and saw Sansa standing by her horse, looking on with worried eyes. 

“Come here, my sweetling” she said with a smile and held out a hand towards her daughter. 

Sansa practically ran into her then, almost knocking over all three of them. Catelyn kissed the top of her head and held both of them close to her. 

“Aren’t you angry with me?” Sansa whispered, her voice trembling.

“Why on earth would I be angry with you, child? None of this is your fault.”

“But I went to Cersei and I told her that Father planned to ship me and Arya to White Harbor. We would have been able to leave if I hadn’t told her, this is all my fault, Mother! It’s my fault they killed everyone and threw Father into a cell and it’s my fault you had to fight to free us!”

Sansa was crying by then, hysterically searching for words. 

“Hush now, Sansa” she hushed. “Look at me.”

Sansa looked up at her.

“This isn’t your fault. Don’t ever think any of this was your fault. It is on me, and your father. We have let you down and we put you in a dangerous position. Us grown women and men are to be blamed for this, you have done nothing wrong, I promise you.”

She realized that she was crying too.

“Do you hear me?” she asked.

Sansa nodded and then she buried her face in Catelyn’s shoulder once more. And despite all the crying it was all like it was supposed to be. She had her daughters in her arms. And that was all that mattered. 

“Your husband and your son is on their way. But Lord Eddard has a badly injured leg, he can’t ride, he had to be put on a wagon. Robb is with him.”

“I bet he hated that” she chuckled.

If she knew Ned correctly he didn’t like being pretty much helpless.

“Ah, he wasn’t too happy with it” Uncle Brynden grinned. 

“Mother, I’m hungry” Arya mumbled.

“Me too” Sansa sniffled.

“Okay, go with your uncle and I’ll be with you in a moment. I promise.”

“Why are you not coming?” Arya asked. 

“I’ll wait for Robb, and Father. And then we’ll join you and we’ll all eat together” she said. 

She reluctantly let go of them and they trotted after the Blackfish towards her tent. They both looked back at her with smiles on their faces. Seeing them smiling filled Catelyn with a warmth that she had not felt in a long time. 

It actually didn’t take very long before she saw them coming over the field. For a moment she considered running out and meeting them, but running while very pregnant wasn’t something she liked. So she had to stand there patiently for what felt like many painful hours. 

Ned’s head hung low. He was probably exhausted, the poor thing. But at least he was alive. 

“Mother!” Robb called out. “You waited for us!”

“Of course I did!”

Ned looked up when he heard her voice, something in his face seemed to change when he saw her. And she couldn’t stop smiling. The way he looked at her with his soft grey eyes wide in surprise, she loved that.

She almost bounced over to the wagon to help him off it.

“My dearest husband” she greeted him and her smile grew even wider. 

“Cat” he almost whispered, as if though he couldn’t believe she was really there. 

“I’m right here, my love” she said and reached up to take his hand.

He managed to get off the wagon and before she knew it he had wrapped her in his arms.´

“Tell me I’m not dreaming” he mumbled. “Tell me it’s true.”

“It is true” she said. “I’m real. And so is this baby. Our baby.”

One of his hands traveled down to her belly.

“It can’t be long until it’s born now, can it?”

“I haven’t counted properly, but it shouldn’t be more than a week or two.”

He leaned down and kissed her.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been with you” he then said. 

“Don’t be, you’re here now. We are together now. And I’ll never leave you again.”

~*~

“Mother, where did that baby come from?” Arya suddenly asked through a mouthful of bread and broth.

Sansa shrieked in horror and Ned had suddenly donned a very uncomfortable look. Robb snorted and hid a smile behind his hand. Catelyn just smiled, she had missed Arya’s sometimes a bit nosey and intrusive questions. And she was a bit surprised by that that was what the girl had been pondering over. 

“Arya, we have spoken of this” she said calmly. “You know where babies come from.”

“But how did Father put the baby in you if you weren’t together?” Arya continued.

She did seem genuinely confused. 

“What if Mother’s a witch?” Robb said and ruffled his little sister’s hair. “And can make babies on her own?”

That was a much better response than telling her about the brothel.

Arya swatted his hand away and looked at him angrily.

“Mother is no witch, stupid! Witches are ugly and scary and they live in the woods! And besides, I’ve never seen her do magic.”

“What if it’s a secret and she can’t use magic in front of us?”

“Then it was very stupid to make a baby, because we figured it out” Arya said solemnly. “But it isn’t magic, because she’s no witch.”

A year earlier Catelyn would have chastised Robb for teasing his little sister, but she could only watch fondly. The fact that they could bicker made her happy. They were back together again. Robb acted like the child he was, and not a seasoned veteran of a thousand battles. Arya was just as stubborn and outspoken as when she had left Winterfell. And Sansa... Catelyn looked at her oldest daughter. She was quiet, looked down at her plate with steady eyes.

“What is on your mind, sweetling?” Catelyn asked her, ignoring Arya and Robb’s continued conversation.

Sansa seemed unsure for a moment. Catelyn took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Then her daughter leaned towards her and whispered.

“The baby is Father’s, right?”

So the baby had occupied Sansa’s thoughts as well as Arya’s. 

“Yes, it is” Catelyn told her and kissed the top of her head. “I came to King’s Landing the day you arrived there. I needed to speak with your father, so Littlefinger took him to me.”

That satisfied Sansa for a moment, but then she frowned again. There was something almost accusing in her eyes. 

“Why didn’t you see me and Arya too?” 

“Because no one could knew I was there. It was a secret. I wished I could have seen you, but it was too dangerous. I’m sorry, Sansa.”

“It’s fine. We are together now and that’s what matters.”

Sansa smiled then, and Catelyn did too. Arya and Robb had gotten absolutely nowhere in the speculations about whether she was a witch or not. Ned had joined them too, advocating for that she was actually a witch. But Arya was stubbornly set on that her mother couldn’t be a witch. No one had came up with the idea to just ask her.

She caught Ned’s eyes for a moment. He winked at her and that made her laugh. She had missed him so much. So so so much.

They sat around the table and discussed and laughed until Arya began to yawn. She denied that she was tired, but it didn’t take long before she was almost falling asleep in her chair. By then Sansa’s eyelids was also beginning to look heavy.

“Arya, Sansa, come on. It’s time for bed” Catelyn said and stood up.

“I’m not tired!”

“Me neither.”

“Okay, but I’m very tired, and I think your father is quite tired too. I think it’s better if we all go to bed, and we’ll talk more on the morrow.”

“Can’t we stay up for a little longer?” Sansa asked. “Please.”

“We have many long days of travel ahead of us, we should get some sleep” Ned said and stood too. 

They were going back to Winterfell, they were returning home. Leaving all the horrors of the south behind them. She couldn’t wait until they would be back behind Winterfell’s high walls, she missed everything about it. Even the summer snows. 

The girls groaned loudly but actually left their chairs. Robb took one of them on each arm and they walked out of the tent. Catelyn stood too, and walked over to Ned to give him an arm so that he could lean on her when he walked. 

“I missed you” he whispered.

“I missed you too.”

She put a hand to on cheek. His beard had grown shaggy and there was more than just a bit of gray in it. His face was thinner, his hair was longer and also a lot grayer. He looked older than when they had met in that brothel. But it was still her Ned, it was the husband she loved with all her heart. Despite his changed appearance. 

“I look terrible, don’t I?” he chuckled.

“You look like you need a couple of hot meals, and a scissor, and a good night’s sleep with your arms around your wife” she told him. “But I wouldn’t say you look terrible.”

He smiled and leaned down and kissed her. She welcomed that, pulled him as close as she could with her belly in the way. She had missed his warmth and his love, missed the way he kissed her deeply and lovingly. 

“Are you two coming?” 

She broke away from Ned and saw that Robb had poked his head inside.

“Yes, we are coming.”

“I’ve been wondering how the hell you managed to get pregnant when you had no time at all, but now I am beginning to understand” Robb said with an eye-roll when they followed him out into the dark night. 

They had five children, if they wanted any closeness at all they were forced to take what little time they had. “Quick and quiet” had became a bit of a motto. That hour in the brothel had been a luxury. But it had also cost the part. In the moment the price had seemed reasonable, but afterwards she had realized that Petyr had probably given them a higher price than what he usually took. But it had been worth it, purely to see Petyr’s face when they made reality of his jape about a bedchamber. 

“We payed good money for that time” she muttered.

That made Robb laugh so that he could barely breathe.

“You payed for it?” he howled. “Whoremongers!”

Catelyn accidentally got eye contact with a passerby who looked at her like horns had suddenly sprouted from her head. 

“Robb, please lower your voice” she hissed. 

“I don’t think you can call it that since no whores were involved’” was what Ned said. “And for the record, it was worth every coin.”

It really had been worth every little coin. It would have been worth it, baby or not, but she had longed for another baby for so long. And soon she would get to hold it in her arms. Another little son or daughter. 

She laid a hand on her belly.

“And we got the brothel baby out of it!”

“Don’t call it that!”

“Then what do you suggest I call your new sibling? You can’t deny it, he or she is a brothel baby. Paid for and everything.”

“Please stop talking!”

She would definitely continue to call the baby that. Simply to annoy Robb.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so this was that, I hope you enjoyed it <3


End file.
